Revised plans have been published on The Oracle’s consultation website. For those who haven’t followed this story, the owners of the Oracle are seeking to bring forward a significant mixed use regeneration of the eastern end of their estate. The vacant Debenhams would be blocked off through the middle, across all three levels. Around half would remain as retail/leisure accessible through the mall, and half would give way to new primarily residential buildings. In a subsequent phase, the cinema building would be replaced with further flats, incorporating a smaller replacement Vue cinema at lower levels. I featured the scheme when it was submitted more than a year ago, so I’ll just cover the changes here.

The number of homes planned reduces from 449 to 436, although within that there are 22 three-bed apartments – an increase of ten. Two storeys have been removed from the cinema site, with one additional floor proposed for the building by the Kings Walk/Village entrance. Most significantly, the tall building proposed for the former Debenham’s plot retreats back from the riverbank where it previously overhung all the way to the water’s edge.

They’ve chopped things up a bit with partial storeys here and there and altered rooflines to add “further visual interest and variety to Reading’s skyline”. Materials tend back towards red brick overall, with “graphite metal” added to the taller buildings. It provides a slightly more industrial look vs the originally submitted designs. The driver for the wider changes is quoted as being council feedback, with reference to needing to “complement the surrounding context”.

A look at the responses on the planning portal shows that it might have been the Environment Agency that’s pushed a substantial change. They’ve insisted the new building encroaches no further towards the Kennet than the Debenhams unit (part of) being demolished. Positively, that’s been accommodated, with the result that a spacious riverside area re-emerges, which, if anything seems wider than existing with a new co-working recessed outdoor space now included.

Miraculously, the trees around the perimeter of the site all seem to have grown relative to the previous scheme, but perhaps it’s been a good growing season in CGI-land? An invasion of Pampas grass tries to make the area look more 1970s than The Hexagon, but overall the increasing greenery is clearly a positive step.

Details haven’t been released on the exact configuration proposed for the cinema. Previous plans showed seven screens: two large double-storey height halls and five smaller ones. Those two larger auditoria remain visible on an outline plan but potentially one smaller screen is lost to the riverside café – we’ll need to wait for resubmitted plans to appear on the council portal to confirm. The overall strategy remains to downsize the cinema, in line with demand, although updated facilities will hopefully make it feel like an upgrade.

The diagram above shows the mall side of the river. From left to right, the existing restaurants remain, right up to Pizza Express. Then we have a new entrance to the mall with escalators up to the Next/HMV corner, one new restaurant unit, the co-working office venue, and then uncertain ground floor uses in the residential building on the corner (presumed facilities for residents – gyms, lounges etc).

The equivalent diagram for the cinema side shows a ground floor restaurant in the corner, followed by the residential entrance, a café as part of Vue with some outdoor riverside space, and the cinema entrance itself.

The residential build-to-rent scheme will be operated by Packaged Living, as previously proposed. The same firm is behind plans I recently reviewed to bring a separate regeneration scheme to the banks of the Thames. It’s possible we’ll see wider improvements to the Kennet area with the recent marketing of the long-vacant Lower Ship on Duke Street. I wonder whether further schemes at the former Mothercare, and potentially the casino site might come forward in time as the clamour to build rental apartments shows no sign of letting up.

I’ve written before that I think there’s some urgency to bring forward something significant on this site. The market for large department store units, or even large single floors thereof, is clearly limited. That said, it’s positive to see the former House of Fraser has a clear future, with the lower floor let to Hollywood Bowl, the middle floor to TK Maxx, and the upper floor under offer, rumoured to be an upsized Zara according to the Reading Chronicle. The former Top Shop is also shown as under offer. Impressive colourful murals screen the building works at the western end, whilst sadly the Debenham’s ghost sign is still decorating an empty building at the eastern side. I hope these plans can be approved swiftly so that we can ensure this closed-up corner of town can soon reopen for business with its proposed wider variety of uses.

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